Justice News

Charlotte Man Sentenced To Seven Years On Gun And Drug Charges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. sentenced yesterday Kendrick Brinkley, 29, of Charlotte, to 84 months in prison and three years of supervised release on drug and gun charges, announced R. Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Wayne Dixie Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division and Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department join U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, on April 13, 2016, while conducting a search of a hotel room at La Casa Inn, located at 7900 Nations Ford Road, in Charlotte, CMPD officers located a revolver and a box of ammunition that belonged to Brinkley. On February 3, 2017, ATF Task Force officers arrested Brinkley at a residence in Charlotte. While executing a search warrant at the residence, law enforcement recovered crack cocaine, $2,314 in cash, a loaded firearm, an assault rifle that law enforcement later determined to be stolen, a loaded magazine with a 30-round capacity, and a third firearm, also later determined to be stolen.

Brinkley has prior felony convictions and is prohibited from possessing a firearm. He pleaded guilty in September 2017 to federal charges of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. He is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Murray thanked the ATF and CMPD for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Gleason, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.